NEW! Uniti Atom Headphone Edition – and streaming pre-amp!

Thanks for testing and confirming!

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Have you compared the headphone out? There was talk that the 222 was supposed to be better but I’m guessing it’s minimal. And it’s also missing the 4.4mm socket for better grounding. I find the 4.4mm improves soundstage over single ended even thought it’s not true balanced. So just wondering if any of this makes any difference?

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I only use headphones quite occasionally (and they are not anything high end) so not a lot of experience but did try compare at the beginning. I do agree that if there is any difference it’s very minimal IMHO. I may be thought the 222 sounded a bit more energetic but I could not really match the dB level and I found a small loudness difference at the same volume level between them which I could adjust through the speakers but not through the headphones. Regardless, they sound very very similar (essentially the same), same character. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to choose one over the other except for connectivity.

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I’ve compared the headphone stages of both. For the amount of headphone listening I do, they do sound very similar & because I can live without the pentacon & xlr inputs, the Atom HE is being moved on.

As a point of interest, ‘someone’ @ Naim said that the headphone stage was originally planned for a 500 series component which was never finalised. Also, that it will improve the headphone stage in the 222 using the NPX 300 which I’m getting around to listening to, at some point soon… :pray:

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When I was chatting wait a Naim rep they did indicate the 552 would have a headphone socket - we’ll have to see if it is delivered with new or old classic! Either way a handy feature.

Gary

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Update - Two years later and I still have my HE. It’s not in my main system anymore. I use it in the bedroom with Focal Utopia headphones. I began to like it A LOT better when I borrowed a Shunyata Sigma v2 power cable from my main system. (yeah, I know. It costs almost as much as the Uniti Atom.)

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Thanks for sharing. I didn’t know this was a thing.

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You’re a lunatic! I’m allowed to say that because I once bought some Super Lumina speaker cable that retails at almost exactly the combined cost of the power amp and speakers they were connecting.
There was method in my madness, but still……

Uniti devices benefit greatly from a Power Chord upgrade. I used a Vovox excelsus power chord on my Uniti Atom. It was a huge step forward. It’s fast, neutral and creates a black background. I highly recommend it. It costs 1/10th of the Shunyata Sigma V.2.

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Thanks, but it’s not too much of an inconvenience to borrow a cable from my main system when I want to listen to the HE.

Got a Shunyata Venom powering mine. Not in the league of your cable but also pretty happy with the result :smile:

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I must have randomly picked your advice a while back since that’s the power cable I’m using too. Must have chose it based on it being a little expensive but not crazy priced. I do find it gives more bass presence and a more liquid sound. It a little hard to really know what’s going on with the changes because the amount of time it takes to swap with the stock cable. Even if it doesn’t actually make a difference, the end result I’m getting with the Naim HE and my Caldera are incredible.

Maybe at the next CanJam I can bring the cable to the Focal booth with all the Naim HE setups and see if they’d let me listen side by side with the stock cable. Really only way to tell. But then it’s meet conditions, so probably a waste of time.

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Interesting Choice over a powerline, did you try both?

Thanks
Gary

How did you end deciding on this power cable? I never heard of it before seeing your posts a while back. I just remember seeing a bunch of people posting over $1000 power cables and ones for just over $100. Yours was in between. But I’m happy with the build quality and the performance improvements.

Not to go down a rabbit hole, but did anyone try an audiophile fuse in the power cable receptacle? I had mine stock one blow so I just put a cheap ceramic one since those are supposed to be better. I can see how the expensive fuses a make much improvement and also still have risk that it can blow or if doesn’t, cause damage to unit.

The standard cable supplied with the Atom is very simple (with Schuko plug, no Powerline Lite in EU and Switzerland). A full fat powerline seemed too expensive for the Uniti Atom and I didn’t listen to it. So I borrowed various other demo cables from my dealer for home testing, which he had in stock in the price range below:

  • Isol 8 Isolink
  • Audioquest NRG Z3 EU
  • Vovox Excelsus Power
    The Isol (the cheapest one) brought little improvement compared to the standard cable.
    The Audioquest was different. Much larger sound stage, lower noise floor. However, the Audioquest clearly shifted the sound balance in the warm direction. The Atom sounded a little thicker and less precise in the fundamental tone and bass range. After about an hour of listening, I realised that this was too much.

The Vovox had the same advantages as the Audioquest, but resulted in a fast, high-resolution sound image with a tight, powerful bass and high neutrality. This was by far the best solution in the comparison. It is assembled by hand in Switzerland, uses selected cryogenised copper cables and mid-range Furutech plugs. My dealer confirmed that this is very unusual in this price range. The disadvantage is rather that as a solid core cable it is stiff and cable dressing is therefore difficult.
The Naim Powerline certainly has the advantage that it was specially developed by Naim for its devices. If you want to be on the safe side and make sure it fits, it is a good choice. Many members of the forum use it and are satisfied. Specialised manufacturers of audio cables such as Audioquest, Furutech, Shunyata or Vovox have a lot of know-how and invest in research (Shunyata has a background in medical technology, VOVOX in studio technology). Each manufacturer has its own technical approach and sound philosophy. They therefore influence the sound balance differently. Not everything suits the Naim sound, personal taste and the individual system and room. So trial and error is always a good idea. I have in the meantime sold my Atom and now use the Vovox excelsus with the ND5XS2. It also supports it very well.

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In the UK, fuses are built into power cable plugs for regulatory reasons. EU or US plugs do not have fuses. Perhaps @feeling_zen or @Skeptikal can help with your question about fuse replacement in Power plugs.

Sorry @Wilfried , I’m not UK based. I left the UK long before the notion of audiophile fuses existed.

My view is that they are a regulatory necessary evil to cope with the ring main. To me, a plug without a fuse is preferable to one with any type of audiophile fuse but it’s just not a legal or safe option in the UK.

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Hi Martin! Are you using IsoAcoustics Graphite with HE?

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Hi,…oh I’m using the blue ones. Isit call sapphire? Is large.

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Thank you! blue ones are probably “Indigo”

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